Every Thursday, from 8-11pm, you can show up at Varasano’s, pay a flat fee, and eat until you are stuffed. The price is thought provokingly low. For $12.95, us big’ns can eat as much pie as our tummies will hold. Meanwhile, kids under the age of 12 eat for just $7.95. These “Heaven Nights,” sound like a good deal.
Servers will walk the floor with a handful of pizzas. The onus will be on the customer to request the desired slice. Interestingly, Varasano’s will offer up some daily specials. I have no idea if that means there will be a special pie, some other concoction, or both.
So now that they have opened their patio, I think this sounds like a heck of a way to spend a Thursday evening.
The Enviornmentally Conscious Organization (www.ecoincorporated.com) creates and patents innovative green packaging solutions. Their first product is simply the “Green Box,” a pizza box by day and a sustainably kick ass cardboard contraption by night.
The top of the box breaks down into serving plates while the bottom of the box turns into a left over pizza container. From the ECO website: “Made from a standard pizza blank, the ‘Green Box’ requires no additional material or major redesign and can therefore be produced at no additional manufacturing cost.” Bottom line: If you run a pizza joint – you had better get on this.
Check out the video. Despite pretty underwhelming narration, you can see how easy this things is to use. Makes ya wonder why nobody thought of it sooner!
A good burger isn’t hard to find … a great burger is! Somewhat out of character for us, Atlanta actually has it’s fair share of top notch burger joints. While the best burger in town is a hotly debated topic, the usual suspects always seem to end up in the discussion. Holeman & Finch’s “Down Low Cheeseburger” is one such suspect. Well, these brisket/chuck patties just got some more national attention. The Food Network just published a 50 States, 50 Burgers report. Georgia’s representative? You guessed it! More after the jump!
April showers bring May restaurant openings? Sure … sounds good to me. Remember to check the May Dirty List for the most up to date information.
Village Cafe In Smyrna So this one is confusing … word from various internet posts is that Village Cafe is scheduled to open in Smyrna. The address is listed as 2860 Atlanta Road, Smyrna, GA 30080. However, there is already a Village Cafe right around the corner. What gives? For now, I’ll leave this off the map until I straighten it out.
Emerald Coast Coffee A self-proclaimed “next generation coffee house/fast casual restaurant,” each location of this chain boasts its own roasting facility. Their menu of beverages is extensive and there are a reasonable number of international cafe style food options. Though a hard date seems elusive, end of May is a good guess at this point. The shop will be in the Terminus Complex in the heart of Buckhead. Address & Information: 3225 Piedmont Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30305) // Emerald Coast Coffee Website
Bistro In A Box Bistro In A Box, scheduled to open May 9th, is a new “concept” from Horn Of Plenty catering. From what I can tell – the place is basically a take out joint for group meals. Their website says that the ideal serving size is four to six people. However, they also offer full off premise catering. BinB is located in the Trackside building down in Decatur. Address & Information: 307 East College Ave, Decatur, GA, 30030 // P: 404.941.7799 // Bistro In A Box Website // Bistro In A Box Menus
When last we stopped in at City Limit Cafe, the place was still getting painted. Now we hear that the opening date has been set; and, it is just around the corner. On May 1st, the cursed Grant Park location will have another run. It’ll be interesting to see if another wing & burger joint in the area can survive. In the meantime, I’ve added it to the May Dirty List (a Google map of upcoming Atlanta restaurants).
This morning, as I was digging through my twitter feed, I came across this video. It’s a nice little interview with Cyrille Holota, the executive chef at JOËL. The Buckhead restaurant is still alive and kicking, long after the departure of namesake Joël Antunes.
So apparently … this is big news. The AJC decided to write that Atlanta was tweeting when Ashton Kutcher showed up at Tin Lizzy’s in Buckhead. Uh … I did a handful of searches on Twitter, and the one I linked to had 4 posts (more than any other search).
What can we all learn from this? Just because you’re worth millions doesn’t mean you have to eat expensive food. Mmmm… nothing like paper tortillas and over priced meat! Now if we could only get Ashton to stop in at La Pietra Cucina before it closes for a month to renovate.
You know… they tell me that reading is fundamental. I should have listened to what they said!!!! To clarify, today’s lunch destination was supposed to be JOËL. Had I took the time to read (or for that matter … just remember), I would have known not to show up. JOËL is closed on Mondays … so much for a burger! So we darted up I-75 for the burger’s partner in crime: the hot dog.
Ask someone in Atlanta where to get a hot dog and more often than not, Barker’s Red Hots [sic] will show up as one of the responses [and here]. Though Barker’s offers an all beef varietal, their “original” dog is a Sahlen brand pork and beef dog. It’s what they are most known for. If you dig swine, take it for a spin … if not, stick the the moo cow. In addition, if you are looking for old school European, you can always get a Polish or Italian sausage.
Stout Irish Pub in Buckhead is doing a good thing. In conjunction with the Atlanta 2 Day Walk, Stout will donate 10% of their sales three times over the next two months. On April 28, May 26, and June 30th, aka … the last Tuesday of each month, if you dine at Stout … they’ll donate! Though I have never been there to eat, the place does a solid bar business. In addition to inexpensive Irish grub, the restaurant doubles as a sports bar. Thus, they’ve got plenty of TVs and tons of games. I now have a great reason to go check it out.
We have our answer as to the name of the restaurant going in at Georgia Tech’s Technology Square. WaterHaven, with a “chef driven menu of contemporary American fare,” is scheduled to open in mid-May. According to the information out there, the restaurant is set to be a farm to table concept in a casual atmosphere.
Joe McCarthy, WaterHaven’s owner, previously served as a general manager at Houston’s, a regional manager at Longhorn, and the Southeast director of operations at The Capital Grille. To run the kitchen, McCarthy hired Chris Lee to serve as executive chef. Lee has been in Atlanta since 1999. His past works include South City Kitchen, La Tavola in Virginia Highlands, Sampan, and The Real Chow Baby.
